Now in their 29th year as rock 'n' roll crusaders for all that's way, way cool about early '60s Britannia pop, Merseybeat and Shadows-styled instrumentals, The Rapiers—"the best '60s band since the '60s"—are truly worth flying 5,000 miles to see, hear and dig.

Post o' the Week

08 March 2010

Rock 'n' roll comrade-in-arms Colin Wood, guitarist with '60s Birmingham Beat Group Keith Powell and The Valets, let Cliff Richard and The Shadows take him back to his Brummie youth, three weeks ago at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne. NB: That's my missus with Colin, in front of the Hammersmith Apollo, 2004.

Dear Greg:

I had to wait 50 years (!) to see Cliff Richard and The Shadows live on stage together, but it happened last night in Melbourne (at the same venue that Roger Federer recently won the Australian Open Tennis Grand Slam).

I had seen Cliff three times before, all in Melbourne, and The Shadows just twice, once at the Birmingham Town Hall (yes!) and then a few years ago in London on their (other) final, farewell tour.

It was quite an emotional evening as they played stuff I heard when I was at school, but none of the numbers sounded dated. It was a great sound, and the packed arena just wanted more, more, more. The performance was so good in all respects that you wonder why they don't do a few more years. Separately they are terrific, but seeing them together was so much better.

They're at the end of the tour (just South Africa to go) but were full of energy... The acoustic session showed that Cliff is an accomplished player these days. Hank was, of course, perfect... The video screen was fed from a number of cameras and was a show in its own right, although a fraction of a second behind sync.

The rules of the Rod Laver Arena didn't allow me to take my Nikon D700 to the gig, so I had to make do with an old Nikon CoolPix digital camera that really wasn't up to the job.
Anyway here are the best of the pix, including a backstage shot of Bruce Welch's guitars.

30 March 2009

Twentysomething guitarist Justin Daish of Yeovil, Somerset, who as a wee lad probably had a DNA infusion from Hank Marvin, posted this YouTube praise about Colin Pryce-Jones's guitar adventures during a late-'90s workout on the Joey Dee hit Peppermint Twist.

"Brilliant playing from the whole band. I've not heard Colin playing so frantically before. This proves that—if he wanted to—he could shred with the best of them!'

15 March 2009

Thanks so much for posting the Star Searchclip. I hadn't seen it for years. I think the year was 1991, and this looks like the final. We appeared twice, actually winning our heat with Saturday Night at the Duckpond and William Tell. We came second in the final with a high score and won a recording contract that never appeared. We ended up with a nice cash prize.

Note that on top of the Fender amps, both Colin and I are using Binson Echorec 2's, giving the band a distinctive sound for that line-up.

As an aside, I bought my first Binson in 1984, from Chris Trigg, who runs Vintage and Rare Guitars. Its previous owner was none other than Robin Gibb, whose address appeared in the bottom of the case. Unfortunately that plate was lost over the years but I still have the Binson.

23 October 2008

Went to see The Rapiers on the spur of the moment on Saturday, 4 October, at Hoburne Cotswold, which turned out to be an upmarket trailer park (that's what you Statesiders would call it), 65 miles from my home. I went on my own as my wife Val didn't fancy the drive back late at night.

It was really a very good night, different to what the guys expected before going on at 9:30 p.m. for an hour. It was supposed to be an end of season "Rock 'n' Roll"-themed night, but it was mainly families there with young children (Colin said it was the first time they had done anything like it).

There were only a few couples dressed for the occasion, but as soon as those first droning notes of Shadoogie rang out, folk were up on the floor dancing! Colin can really gauge an audience, can't he? A splendid set of Shads numbers, Good Golly Miss Molly, Roll Over Beethoven, Buckleshoe Stomp, That'll Be the Day and Wipe Out kept the dance floor busy. Rapturous applause following the last number, FBI, meant they had to do at least one more.

Roger White
Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire

P.S. It was good to have the guys to myself for the couple of hours before they went on. I was able to give Colin a DVD that I had shot at Jack's Hill Cafe in July. It wasn't particularly good—I had to squat down in the cafe aisle and film through seemingly uninterested bikers, who, by the end, were applauding with everyone else. I also took some video at Hoburne. Colin, who seems a bit jittery about filming, came up to me afterwards and said, "You won't be putting this up, will you?" I assured him that I would always let him vet anything before I let anyone else have it!

[GO: Roger, thanks for the review. And, trust me, I prefer the more accurate British English term holiday park to the decidedly less appropriate American English term trailer park, rarely the site of such formal rock 'n' roll coolness.]

22 July 2008

We received your telegram as we took the stage yesterday afternoon at Fort Perch Rock, New Brighton. A delightful tonic as we were still a little jaded having come back from the Amersham Rock 'n' Roll Club earlier that morning—what a great place and a fab crew!

Many thanks for your kind words and the best of British luck to you all.

Mr. Cosmic B. plays guitar for my favourite modern Liverpudlian quartet wot I've never seen in the flesh. For lovers of the "Mach Schau Sound" and the "Benzedrine Beat", The Shakers have a full datebook over the next month, especially during the International Beatles Week Festival, 20-26 August 2008, when Liverpool goes stark raving mad for all-things Lennon-McCartney-Harrison-Best-Starr-Sutcliffe.

01 July 2008

[Posted by one M. Overberg ("Surf Guitar 71") in October 2007, this gushing five-star "Return of The Rapiers" review on Amazon.com, subtitled "The Shadows Reborn", caught my eye only this week.]

This is easily one of the greatest British Instrumental and Beat Stomping bands ever. The tone is there, the echo is there, The Shadows are there.

The Rapiers originals are sometimes better than The Shadows. Quite simply these guys tapped into the early '60s sound of British Music pre-Fab Four. They nailed it and this is great. Formidable players. Colin Pryce-Jones is Gear: so is the rest of the band for that matter.

If you love The Shadows and haven't hear this, shame on you. They run rings around any band emulating The Shadows today.

Surf's you right! Needless to say, it's always fab when a fellow Yank surf music fanatic publicly states his appreciation for the over-the-pond sound of Shadowdom.

The Conquerors, a.k.a "Minneapolis' Sexiest 4some", have been "confounding critics, audiences and themselves for the better part of a dozen years" with their garage rock sounds. Adds their cheeky MySpace bio: "The Conquerors convene only when convenient for the individually cantankerous, curmudgeonly, callous & cocky members. Their justified & ancient leader, Keith Patterson, is so riddled with aches and pains that it is a miracle when he leaves the house, if ever. Periodically he is strapped to a gurney and transported to a secret location; upon arrival a painful device called a Bison is strapped on him and he is then barely enabled to participate in the ritual racket-making."

17 April 2008

[Re: the furor over the edited Walkers Crisps advert] I was very heartened to read most of the [positive] comments on the Shadows MSN site, and the two Scottish papers. It would be great if people could really get behind a move to voice their concerns over a Nanny State in Britain; I'm not entirely sure how that would happen, but I did notice a facility on the Walkers website where people can contact them.

I understand that there were only about 90 people who complained and that the [various] YouTube videos show over 10,000 views—I'm sure most of those didn't even make a connection with anything remotely offensive. If they had, the negative comments would have poured in straight away. What happened is the tragic victims [of an actual bus crash] have seen the advert, made a connection to their own personal circumstances and, Bob's your uncle, the next thing is a move in the Scottish media, which in turn whips up complaints from people who would probably never have thought about it.

Dave Lawes

"What luck," added Colin Pryce-Jones. "We get our first advert after 25 years and it gets pulled." Curiously, the Walkers site never had the spot, original or modified, on its TV ads page. Did they know it might cause offense? Or is their webmaster on permanent holiday? Meanwhile, fortunately, no Big Brother or Nanny has vacuumed, er, hoovered, the videos off YouTube.

02 April 2008

The boys were on fine form. The sound was superb. What a great day my wife and I had, and to have Pipeline the next day was just fantastic. We met Colin Pryce-Jones there for the first time, one of the nicest and most easy going persons we've met in a long time.

Graham "Top Cat" Whelehan

P.S. Top marks to the organisers for both events, they were wonderful.

Well said, Graham. Credit Pipeline's Alan Taylor for cajoling Colin into 1) staging an anniversary celebration for The Rapiers' 25th, and 2) staging it on the eve of Pipeline, giving punters a 1-2 rock 'n' roll punch over Easter Weekend.

21 March 2008

[Your Walkers Crisps advert] makes me really want to go on another FAB trip to Britain soon! Sipping tea (with scones), enjoying endless walks in the rain (wearing my wellies and waxcoat and a funny hat with a feather) and last but definitely not least going to a pub (probably called "The Fox and Hound") having a pint of bitter (with Walkers salt and vinegar crisps on the side) whilst listening to The Rapiers on the jukebox.

Toodle pip!Miss MarlypennyRotterdam, Netherlands

"Welcome to Girlsville," notes the swinging Miss M. on her MySpace pad. She's a "'60s addicted interior designer" who "might be tempted to tell you more" should you buy her a beer "when you meet me on the dancefloor". And remember her general interests: "Collecting girls on 45 and occasionally playing them in public, mid-century modern design, Googie architecture, playing old-fashioned board games, talking (usually too much), laughing (never enough), watching bands (I'm the one at the front yelling 'Yoohoo' 'cause I still can't whistle properly), dancing and playing the air guitar."

04 March 2008

Our senorita is a lass of few words, all big. Presumably, her capitalised praise stems from The Rapiers' recent Spanish sojourn to the Surforama Festival in Valencia. Indeed, a quick swing by her MySpace home reveals a decided predilection for the ENGLISH BIG BEAT: Searchers, Kaisers, Shadows, Lulu and other grande pop stars.